Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti won a clear victory in Kosovo's second parliamentary election in 2025 with some 49.3% of the vote, results suggested on early Monday, with most of the votes counted.
His left-wing Self-Determination party fell just short of an absolute majority. But it remains to be seen whether he will need a coalition in order to form a government.
"After fair, democratic and free elections, we are even more victorious today than we were at the beginning of February," Kurti said in a short speech broadcast on television.
"Once the results will be certified we should swiftly constitute the parliament and then form immediately a new government," he added, calling on the opposition to support his international loan deals, which would need a two-thirds majority to pass.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo came second with (PDK) 21% of the vote, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) with 13.6% and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with 5.7%, as per results after 99% of the votes were counted.
Kosovo has been mired in political paralysis for most of the year, after Kurti's leftist party lost the absolute majority it had won in 2021 and failed to secure the support of any other party to form a government.
Months of unsuccessful coalition talks led to President Vjosa Osmani dissolving the parliament in November and calling an early election.
Since then, Kosovo's legislature has been unable to agree on its leadership, leaving the body effectively paralyzed and unable to function.
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Kurti, who has governed since 2021, was hoping for a decisive result similar to his 2021 victory, when he was able to form a government largely on his own. His reform agenda has produced mixed results so far.
Opposition parties have repeatedly refused to govern with Kurti, criticizing his handling of relations with Western allies and his policies toward Kosovo's ethnically divided north, where a Serb minority lives.
Kurti, in turn, has blamed the opposition for the ongoing impasse.
Bedri Hamza, a former finance minister and new head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), was Kurti's strongest challenger.
Hamza blends national values with liberal economic policies championing free markets, economic growth, a stronger private sector and social protection.
Failure to form a government would prolong the crisis at a critical moment. Lawmakers must elect a new president in April and ratify around €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in loan agreements with the European Union and the World Bank, which are set to expire in the coming months.
Kosovo has also faced financial pressure following tensions with Serbia in 2023, which prompted the EU to impose sanctions.
The bloc has said it will lift the measures after ethnic Serbian mayors were elected in northern municipalities, though the sanctions are believed to have cost Kosovo hundreds of millions of euros.
During the campaign, Kurti pledged an extra month of salary per year for public sector workers, one billion euros annually in capital investment and the creation of a new prosecution unit to combat organized crime.
Opposition parties focused on promises to improve living standards. Many voters say they are disillusioned.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse, Saim Dušan Inayatullah, Rana Taha
Curated by Fatima Al-Hassan
